There is no free homeland without free women

“There is no free homeland without free women” is a tribute to the sumud of women from Oakland to Palestine who are determined to break free from imprisonment, occupation, and colonialism and usher in a more just and free world. 

The image of the defiant woman is inspired by a Palestinian poster designed by Abed Altamam in 2003, which similarly depicts a Palestinian fala7i woman standing defiantly with her hands raised while breaking the shackles around her ankles. Our image depicts Fatima Bernawi, the Palestinian freedom fighter and first documented female political prisoner. Fatima was born in the African Quarter in Jerusalem 1939 to a Palestinian mother and Nigerian father who had fought for the liberation of Palestine during the Arab Revolt. In 1967, Fatima was arrested for attempting to carry out an attack on the Israeli army and sentenced to life, and released after 10 years in a prisoner exchange. She joined the ancestors in 2022. 

Fatima’s story makes a connection between Black and Palestinian struggle. As a woman of African descent/Black woman, her image represents the criminalization of Black and Brown womens bodies everywhere. 

In the mural, we depict Fatima forcefully breaking the shackles binding her wrists flanked with the famous words of  Assata Shakur: “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Assata Shakur, a Black Panther revolutionary who was liberated from a U.S. prison in 1979, also represents women’s sacrifice in the fight for liberation and freedom. 

In the mural, Fatima’s typical orange prison uniform pants transition into a Palestinian thobe that has a Qabbah (chest piece) with a tatreez motif traditional to Jerusalem, Fatima’s hometown. The transition from prison clothing to traditional tatreez represents women’s strength and resilience.  On Fatima’s head is a Palestinian Keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian resistance that has grown to become a global symbol of solidarity with Palestine. 

The sun emerging from a cloudy sky behind Fatima’s broken chains represents the long history of Black and Palestine solidarity in California. The sun is a homage to the poem Enemy of the Sun, written by Samih al-Qasim and made popular by U.S. political prisoner George Jackson when it was found in his prison cell in San Quinten. Originally attributed to Jackson, the poem was later discovered to be a translation of al-Qasim’s ode to resistance and refusal to capitulate. 

Fatima stands on a field of red and orange poppies, the national flowers of both Palestine and California. The red poppies are a symbol for Palestinian martyrs and also shown as a theme throughout the SUMUD mural. The orange poppies are a symbol for the California golden poppies, this is to show the solidarity from our home here in Oakland, California to Palestine.